Interviewed by guest host Tom Woods, Mark Thornton talks about price inflation and the American economy. Recorded 16 April 2013 on the Peter Schiff Show.

Mark Thornton is a senior resident fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and is the book review editor for the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is the author of The Economics of Prohibition, coauthor of Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War.

            Leo, Suzy and Luther have been friends since kindergarten. After high school they went to different colleges but they all got a degree in Quasi-dimensional analytical basket-weaving.  From here the stories take very different paths. At their ten year high school reunion, they compared notes on how life was going.

            Luther showed up in a brand new car, his third since graduating college, and bragged about his big screen TV, boat and other assorted toys. He was still living at home but was getting serious with his girlfriend.

            Sally arrived in her leased Camry. She was engaged to Fred the accountant and was renting a nice condo down by the river. She was also saving the maximum allowed in her 401k.

            Leo drove up in a--new to him—five year old Accord that he’d paid cash for the week before. His trade-in was the same car that had gotten him through college. Leo owned a small home and a rental property he’d bought out of foreclosure. He was saving the money from the rental to buy another property. Leo popped the question to Karen on the dance floor during the reunion. It was so romantic.